Even as a little girl growing up in San Francisco, I had wanted to make it big in life. I wanted to be rich and famous! Well, who wouldn’t want to? Despite having chosen a career path that was considered a sure-fire recipe to success, I wasn’t getting what I wanted out of life! Strangely I felt that ‘a wall of hindrance’ was standing between me and the life of my dreams! And my real problem was that I was clueless about this ‘invisible barrier’ and the means to eliminate it until the day I bumped into William with whom I shared a room while I was in Australia to attend a linguistic program.
William is a writer, teacher and more importantly a Reiki Master. He has mastered the ancient Japanese technique of Reiki to reduce stress, provide relaxation and heal people. There was something divine about William and I felt he radiated spiritual warmth which he obviously attributed to Reiki. During my stay with William, I saw many people approaching him for Reiki sessions to overcome their problems at different levels.
And invariably at the end of these Reiki sessions, I saw the happy faces of people who thanked William for his expert help. Yet, I remained skeptical about the efficacy of Reiki until one day I decided to take the plunge! It was not that I really bought into William’s ideology. It was largely because I was desperate to find the ‘invisible barrier to success’ in my life and eliminate it once for all! But before that, I needed to find out the history of Reiki and its practice and reassure myself that it is safe to give it a try.
Origin of Reiki
Reiki is a Japanese word where ‘rei’ means universal and ‘ki’ means life energy. Hailed as the gentlest healing technique in the world, there are different types of Reiki practiced today. However, the traditional Reiki methods are based on the healing and meditative techniques of Mikao Usui who popularized it in Japan during the 20th century. Later Usui’s student Chujiro Hayashi reintroduced it, giving more emphasis on the healing part of it. The Reiki movement was introduced to the West thanks to the efforts of Hawayo Takata, an American student of Hayashi.
The practice of Reiki
Reiki believes that there is a universal energy field present that could help in restoring the balance of body-mind-soul. This is considered important as any discrepancies in the energy levels could result in illnesses and hindrances in life. And practitioners claim that through Reiki, one can gain access to the universal energy field and increase its flow in the affected areas and help cure illnesses at the physical, mental and emotional planes present in the human body.
In a typical session of Reiki, a trained Reiki practitioner places his/her hands, palms down, lightly on or above the affected body parts of the client for a few minutes. This is repeated using 12 to 15 different hand poses or till the time the client feels the flow of energy in his/her body parts which is usually felt as heat or tingling sensations. There could be a number of sessions which purely depend on the client’s health requirements.
There are three degrees or levels of training in Reiki. An initiation or attunement from the Reiki Master qualifies you to gain access to the universal energy and take up the next degree or level. During the first level the students are taught to perform Reiki on themselves and on others. In the next level the students are taught to perform Reiki on others from a distance. You will need many years of experience to become a Reiki Master, the third level in which you can initiate others in Reiki healing process.
Uses of Reiki
Reiki practitioners claim that the healing method can provide relaxation, relieve stress and anxiety, and promote overall health at all levels. People use Reiki to get relief from pain, and even to mitigate the side effects of cancer treatment. Reiki is also practiced on terminally ill patients and their families to induce a sense of peace.
What does science say?
According to National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM),
Reiki sessions appear to be safe with no cases of serious side effects. However there is no scientific conclusion on the benefits of Reiki as yet and research on this is still underway.
The 2007 National Health Interview Survey reported that 1.2 million American adults had used energy healing therapies like Reiki.
My experience
Even though I was not fully convinced that Reiki is safe, I took the plunge. My first Reiki session with William lasted a few minutes and was followed by 5 more sessions. As the sessions progressed I strongly felt the universal life force entering the seven chakras or energy centers in my body, cleansing me at all levels, physical, mental and emotional. And when the energy pushed through the heart chakra, I vividly experienced the breaking of the ‘invisible barrier,’ and witnessed the little chunks being blown out!
My spiritual heart was now ‘open’ and devoid of any hindrance and full of positive energy! I felt reborn! I have since used this new found spirit to change every aspect of my life, notably the tremendous wealth, relationship success and happiness I have achieved since.
How you can tap it’s power
Reiki is spiritual and not religious. Whether you believe in God or not, it doesn’t matter for Reiki to work out its magic on you! So open up your mind and take the plunge and live the life of your dreams.
Since my first experiences with Reiki, I’ve attended several Reiki workshops and courses. A year ago, I came across a low-cost and superb course that I would highly recommend to both beginners and advanced Reiki students. This course can be accessed by going to http://www.aajoo.com/.
Best of luck with your personal journey of self-discovery and success!